


Of Cosy Corners And Put-Up Jobs

by MissLittyKitty



Series: Of Bathroom Doors And Mistletoe [3]
Category: Actor RPF, British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M, Love, MissLittyKitty, Of Bathroom Doors And Mistletoe, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 17:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3904825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLittyKitty/pseuds/MissLittyKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Continuation of the stories “Of Bathroom Doors And Mistletoe” and “Of Dinner Dates And Kisses”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Cosy Corners And Put-Up Jobs

**Author's Note:**

> A big thanks to my lovely Beta Wusch.

My knees felt weak. My lips still tingled from his sweet kiss. And my insides felt as if they had been twisted into knots while at the same time a flock of butterflies somersaulted in my stomach. He had kissed me. He had really kissed me, just like that. And nothing inside me had protested. Far from it: my heart had seemed to actually skip a beat or two, my head had been wiped blank and my eyes had fallen shut on their own, blocking out everything but him. I couldn’t help but run my upper lip over my lower one, imagining the feel of his lips on mine once more while doing so. 

“Katherine, are you okay?” His voice broke through the trancelike state I had seemingly fallen into, a smile forming on my lips and I opened my eyes, only now becoming aware of the fact that they had still been closed. A fierce blush warmed my cheeks, increasing even when I saw his smile and the slightly questioning expression on his face.  
“I’m fine,” I replied, having to clear my throat to be able to speak, “I…I guess, I just wasn’t expecting…this.”  
“Oh,” he said. And once more, “Oh…I’m sor….”  
“No,” I cut in, shaking my head viciously, “don’t you dare apologise for this wonderful kiss.”  
He laughed and my cheeks reddened even more.  
“It’s quite save then to assume it felt more right for you this time?” he inquired and I couldn’t help but giggle.  
“Yes, quite,” I agreed and both of us had to laugh. Yet, my rumbling stomach set an end to it and Tom looked at me, half amused, half incredulous.  
“You haven’t eaten?”  
“Alone?” I came up with, once more increasing the redness of my cheeks and for a split second both of us looked away from the other. 

“Have you eaten?” I eventually asked. He didn’t answer but the apologetic expression on his face and mostly in his eyes was answer enough. With an inaudible sigh I pulled my lower lip between my teeth, hesitating. Then, before I had really made up my mind, my right hand shot forward to take hold of his and I started to pull him with me down the street.  
“Where are you going?” he wanted to know and I shot him a smile.  
“To one of my favourite places,” I replied, slowing down my pace a little. Once he had caught up with me, his inquiring gaze met mine.  
“Does that place have a name?”  
“Yes,” was all I said, barely able to contain my laughter so that I added, “but more importantly: it will be warm AND there will be food for me.” Tom laughed again.  
“Fine, surprise me.”  
It was then when he lightly squeezed my hand and moved his fingers to intertwine them with mine that I became aware of still holding his hand. Or him holding mine. Or both.

Could this be the start of something between us? Was it the start of something between us? Was I even ready to start something with him? That last notion made me falter in my step slightly. I had no answer, to any of the questions. I hadn’t thought about any of this before I’d met him at the Christmas party. All I knew was that I wanted to spend time with Tom, to get to know him better. And wasn’t that the only answer I needed right now? 

We turned another corner, into a smaller side street and a smile crept onto my face upon seeing the familiar sign in the not too far distance. It was just a small sign, lit up by individual light bulbs instead of the nowadays more common neon tubes. And when we were only a few paces away, I saw that several bulbs weren’t lit and had to chuckle. Some things never change.  
“Here we are,” I quietly said to Tom and motioned to the glass door on which another sign read: We are open.  
He reached for the door which opened with a tinkling of bells and I stepped through into the warmth. And I not only meant the heating system. The whole place radiated a kind of warmth coming straight from the heart. And it was there, in your heart, that you felt this warmth the most.

Alerted from the bells, a dark haired man in his mid-thirties stuck his head out of the kitchen. When his gaze met mine, a bright smile formed on his lips.  
“Kat!” he exclaimed and rushed around the counter to pull me into his arms. “It’s good to see you, sweetheart. And it’s been way too long.”  
“Yes, it has. Good to see you, too, Tony,” I replied and noticed his eyes fixing on something behind me. Turning around, I saw that that ‘something’ was Tom and once again I felt my face flush with colour. 

Clearing my throat, I said, “Tom, this is Tony, the owner, cook and waiter. Tony, this is Tom.”  
The men shook hands a little longer than strictly necessary or so it seemed to me and I got the impression that they were sizing each other up.  
“Well, what can I get for you?” Tony asked once they had finished their assessment of each other. He turned to me, “The usual?”  
“Yes. And some fresh mint tea, please,” I answered and looked at Tom, “What would you like?”  
“I’ll have a fresh mint tea as well,” he chose. Tony nodded and motioned to the right, “Go on and sit down. I’ll bring the tea asap.” 

Nodding my thanks, I looked at Tom, smiling brightly and asked him to follow me. We passed the two empty tables which made him hesitate.  
“Katherine, why not here?”  
“Because,” I smiled at him, “I want my spot. Come and see.” I pointed at what seemed like a wall protrusion but had in fact once been a small, second room. Dominating the small space was an L-shaped sofa with mounts of cushions and pillows. The light was dimmed, creating a grotto-like feel. A mirror hung on the wall above the shorter end of the sofa and a hand-painted wooden sign on the wall we were facing proclaimed that this was “Kat’s Cosy Corner”. 

“Wow,” he said as he stepped next to me, “I’d have never expected this.” He smiled at me, tilting his head to one side before motioning to the sign.  
“Is this really your corner?”  
“It is,” I confirmed, “it was my idea. This used to be a storage room or something like that but they never really used it. Didn’t need to.” I shrugged and started to take off my gloves, hat and jacket while explaining, “So one evening several years ago, Tony and his wife Anna and I sat out there together talking about the unused space and the idea just kind of popped into my head. And especially Anna instantly liked it, so….” I made a gesture with both hands, enhancing that this was the outcome of said idea. 

“This is great,” Tom agreed, smiled at me and took my coat to place it at the far end of the couch along with his and sat down. I did the same, plopped down onto the very comfortable sofa, removed my shoes, pulled my legs up and leaned into the pillows next to me and somehow into Tom as well - more accidentally than planned.  
“Oops, sorry,” I mumbled, meeting his eyes and wanting to move away but he had already put an arm around me. Smiling, he removed the pillows from between us and pulled me closer, all the while holding my gaze. I swallowed hard. The butterflies in my stomach were back dancing the samba and my heartbeat increased tenfold.  
The fingertips of his free hand ghosted over my cheek, raising goose bumps on my skin and making me shiver. His eyes momentarily shifted to my lips before he whispered, “You liked my first kiss.”  
“I did,” I breathed, partly because he had asked so quietly and partly because I feared my voice would not cooperate at the moment.  
“Would you allow me to kiss you again?” 

Despite me knowing where this was headed, still my breath caught in my throat so that my answer consisted of a very voiceless “Yes”.  
I saw his rather cheeky smile come nearer, closing the distance between us before my eyes drifted shut on their own. His breath whispered across my cheek, across my lips and I shivered in anticipation. I felt his lips lightly brush against mine and I sighed inaudibly, wanting nothing more than to deepen the kiss. But just then a voice called out “Knock, knock” (due to the lack of a door) and I instantly pulled away from Tom out of sheer surprise, to see a blonde woman enter. 

“Anna,” I exclaimed, eyes widening in even more surprise and I excitedly jumped up off the couch.  
“Hey,” she smiled and held up the two tall glasses of mint tea she was carrying, “Tony told me you were here, so I at least wanted to see you for a little while since it’s been so long. And I thought I’d make myself useful and get those teas to you.”  
She set the glasses down onto the low table and went to hug me tightly.  
“Gosh, it’s good to see you, Kat. We’ve sure missed you and there’s so much we have to catch up on,” she said, almost bringing tears to my eyes.  
“I know and we will,” I replied, pulled away from her and turned to Tom who was watching us closely, a smile on his face.  
“Anna, please meet Tom. Tom, this is Anna, Tony's wife and my cousin,” I introduced. He stood up and held out his hand for Anna to take and she did so, her eyes widening slightly with recognition. 

“Nice to meet you, Anna,” he said and I saw her gulp.  
“You, too,” she replied, her voice a little on the shaky side which made Tom smile and me smirk. I knew just how she must've felt. I'd been there. I still kind of was there.  
“Now that Katherine mentioned it, I can see a resemblance,” Tom stated, looking from me to Anna and back. “It's mostly your eyes.”  
“Yes well, can't deny that,” Anna said, sounding more like her usual self again which should have taken me a bit by surprise. More so when she asked, “So, how did you two meet?”  
“We literally ran into each other at a Christmas party,” Tom answered. He smiled at me in a way that made me blush and I had to look away, registering Anna’s rather too big a grin. Something started to click in my head but before I had the chance to really grasp it, Tony entered the room with my food on a plate. 

“There you go,” he said, putting the plate down on the table and smiling at me, “double cheese with cucumber and tomato. Bon Appétit.”  
“Thanks, Tony, you're the best,” I exclaimed, plopped down onto the sofa again, picked up one of the sandwiches and bit into it with much gusto. “Hmm,” I moaned, happily munching away, “this is awesome.”

I swallowed the first bite and was about to take the second when I became aware of everyone watching me, all sporting identical grins.  
“What?” I inquired, looking at all three in turn and feeling the heat on my cheeks intensify upon meeting Tom’s gaze.  
“I'm really hungry,” I offered as explanation and Tom cleared his throat, dropping his gaze first to the floor then focused on Anna and Tony and said, "Which, I am ashamed to say, is totally my fault. We were supposed to have dinner together about two hours ago and I kind of stood her up at the restaurant."  
“I thought we agreed that you didn't stand me up,” I reminded him, a smile on my face despite the increasing blush. “It was...bad timing.” 

“And for that alone you deserve so much better,” Tom insisted, smiling. He came over, took my hands in his and pulled me to my feet before leaning in and placing a short, soft kiss on my lips. Cheeks flaming red, I averted my eyes. My heart warmed even more toward him. How could he just be like that?  
Tony clearing his throat brought me back to the present and I looked up at him, meeting Tom’s gaze briefly along the way.  
“I guess we'll leave you to it,” he said, a slight hint of embarrassment in his voice. “We'll lock everything up and you two can use the backdoor, alright?”  
At my nod, he took Anna’s hand, gave it a short tuck when she didn't respond immediately and pulled her with him toward the doorway. A very bright grin was plastered on my cousins’ face. 

“It was lovely meeting you, Tom,” she nearly sang, “oh, and can I just say: I love The Hollow Crown.”  
Tom’s ‘Thank you’ was more or less directed at the empty doorframe because Tony nearly dragged her out of the room. Silence fell for several heartbeats until we heard her calling out, “Oh, and by the way, tell Julie I said hello.”

That was it for me. As everything clicked into place in my head, I burst out laughing, collapsed onto the sofa and buried my face in my hands. My shoulders, my whole body shook from the uncontrolled laughter and I have to admit, it felt wonderful. It took so much pressure from me, so that I felt much more like myself when I eventually calmed down and found Tom’s eyes.  
“I'm sorry, you must probably think me a nutcase,” I told him, a blush once again colouring my cheeks but he shook his head and sat down next to me.  
“No, I don't,” he replied. “I really enjoy seeing you laugh but wouldn't it be much more fun if I was in on the joke?”

“I suppose so,” I said giggling and added, “She was in on it.”  
“Whatever do you mean?”  
“What I mean is,” I said shaking my head and took a deep breath, “that my dear cousin knew of it – of us. She was in on Julie and Emma’s plan all along. That’s why she was merely a little surprised to meet you. – God, I should have noticed before, it all makes sense now.” I said the last part mostly to myself, studying my hands and felt the heat on my cheeks which increased when Tom asked, “And what exactly makes you think that? Because to be honest, I don’t see it.” 

“Yes well,” I mumbled and looked up at him again. “For that you actually need to know that Anna…literally forced me to watch The Hollow Crown with her…and some other stuff.”  
“Did you like it?”  
“I loved it…but that’s beside the point I’m trying to make.”  
“Which is?” he grinned rather cheekily, making me bite my lower lip and I saw his eyes momentarily focusing on them.  
“I think, we never really stood a chance to…you know…uhm get out of this? Avoid this?”  
“So you think it was a put-up job?”  
“Yes,” I answered, “Kind of.” His gaze was still on me and I nervously fidgeted with my hands in my lap, averted my eyes.  
“But the question here is: do we want to get out of this?” he asked.  
“I…uhm…do you? I mean, I could totally understand if you do…you know? As I said when we first met, I wouldn’t really like to be set up with someo….”

“Katherine?” he interrupted my rambling and I stilled, tentatively finding his eyes.  
“Yes?”  
He changed his position on the couch so that he was facing me directly and framed my face with both hands, a sweet smile on his lips.  
“Please shut up,” he said quietly before he kissed me and I melted against him, my cheeks once more flaming red.  
“Fact is,” he breathed against my lips when we eventually parted, “I already am in this. And I really don’t want to get out of it.”  
“Neither do I,” I whispered.  
“Good,” he said and placed another gentle kiss on my lips just as my stomach started to rumble.  
“Now I’ve kept you from your food again,” he stated, making me blush and laugh.  
“You did,” I agreed. “And moreover, you’ve gotten me so embarrassed…how am I ever going to be able to eat in front of you?”  
He laughed and leaned against the back of the couch, supporting his head with his right hand.  
“Well, I think you’d better get used to it.”


End file.
